ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Thomas C. Simonen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 36-38
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11569
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The achievement of 60% beta and near classical confinement in the Russian Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) provides a basis for extrapolating to a 2 MW neutron source with 2 MW m-2 of 14 MeV neutron flux over an area of ~1 m2. Such a source is needed for fusion materials development and qualification. We consider two axisymmetric configurations: a single mirror cell Deuterium-Tritium Dynamic-Trap Neutron Source (DTNS) and a Tandem-mirror Neutron Source (TNS). Compared to earlier US neutron source concepts, neither configuration utilizes complex minimum-B magnets or thermal barriers. In this paper we describe extrapolations from GDT with the same physical size, and the same dimensionless plasma parameters, but with higher magnetic field as well as higher neutral beam energy and power.
